Seasonal Residents — Palm Bay, Florida

About 1,863 Palm Bay homes are held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, 3.7 percent of the 50,147 housing units in the city, in ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

The Palm Bay estimate comes from the vacancy status table, ACS table B25004 for Palm Bay, and carries a margin of error of 442, so the estimate plus or minus that margin runs from 1,421 to 2,305 homes. The housing total of 50,147 comes from ACS DP04 for Palm Bay, and 1,863 divided by 50,147 gives the 3.7 percent share. The Census Bureau files these part-year homes as vacant, since a unit is vacant if no one is living in it at the time of interview (ACS Subject Definitions, page 8).

Seasonal homes are the largest single reason a Palm Bay home stands empty. They make up 43.4 percent of the 4,297 vacant units in the city (1,863 divided by 4,297), more than homes for rent and for sale combined. The same Palm Bay table counts no units held for migrant workers. Across all housing, 91.4 percent of Palm Bay units are occupied, a fuller stock than the county or the state (ACS DP04, Palm Bay).

Palm Bay has about half the seasonal-home share of Brevard County, 3.7 percent of housing units against 7.1 percent countywide and 7.8 percent in Florida, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

Each share divides a published seasonal count by a published total. Brevard County has 21,250 seasonal units (ACS B25004, Brevard County) among 299,305 housing units (ACS DP04, Brevard County), and Florida has 802,265 among 10,256,470 (ACS B25004, Florida; ACS DP04, Florida). Melbourne, also in Brevard County, has 1,529 seasonal units among 41,217 (ACS B25004, Melbourne; ACS DP04, Melbourne), the same 3.7 percent share.

Palm Bay holds a much smaller slice of county seasonal housing than of county housing overall. The 50,147 Palm Bay units are 16.8 percent of the Brevard County stock, but the 1,863 Palm Bay seasonal units are 8.8 percent of the county figure of 21,250. Most Brevard part-year homes therefore sit outside Palm Bay city limits, while Palm Bay housing is mainly lived in year-round: Palm Bay has 45,850 occupied units, 91.4 percent of the total, against 86.1 percent in Brevard County.

The 2020 Census counted 995 Palm Bay homes for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, 2.0 percent of 49,078 housing units, down from 1,048 in the 2010 Census.

The 2020 row comes from 2020 Census table H5 for Palm Bay and 2020 Census table H1 for Palm Bay. Seasonal homes were 30.3 percent of the 3,279 vacant Palm Bay units in 2020. The 2010 row comes from 2010 Census table H5 for Palm Bay and 2010 Census table H3 for Palm Bay, which counted 45,220 Palm Bay housing units, 39,482 occupied and 5,738 vacant.

The Palm Bay vacancy mix shifted between the two censuses. In 2010 the city had 1,350 homes for rent, 1,245 for sale only and 1,893 other vacant units; by 2020 those had fallen to 762, 620 and 611, while the seasonal count barely moved, from 1,048 to 995. The census figures do not record why each home was empty, so this page reports the change without assigning a cause.

Brevard County followed a similar flat line for seasonal homes. The county counted 13,549 seasonal units in 2010 (2010 Census H5, Brevard County) and 13,907 in 2020, 4.8 percent of 288,794 housing units (2020 Census H5, Brevard County; 2020 Census H1, Brevard County). Palm Bay had 7.2 percent of the county seasonal units in 2020 (995 of 13,907), and Florida as a whole counted 667,183 seasonal units, 6.8 percent of its housing (2020 Census H5, Florida; 2020 Census H1, Florida). Melbourne counted 945 (2020 Census H5, Melbourne).

The ACS and the census use different residence rules and collection methods, so the ACS figure of 1,863 seasonal Palm Bay homes and the 2020 Census count of 995 are not a like-for-like pair.

The 2020 Census counted Palm Bay using usual residence, which the Census Bureau defines as the place where a person lives and sleeps most of the time (ACS Subject Definitions, page 50). The ACS is a continuous survey in which people respond throughout the year (ACS Subject Definitions, page 121), and it uses current residence instead, a concept the Census Bureau says is unique to the survey. Under the ACS rule, if everyone staying in a unit at interview will be there for two months or less, the unit is classed as vacant (ACS Subject Definitions, page 7).

The seasonal category is broader than winter homes. The Census Bureau defines it as vacant units used or intended for use only in certain seasons or for weekends or other occasional use throughout the year, and it includes time-share units and short-term rentals of a month or less (ACS Subject Definitions, page 48). A Palm Bay house rented by the week to visitors therefore lands in the same row as a house kept for a winter stay.

A separate Palm Bay table shows how many vacant homes had people in them at interview. ACS table B25005 counts 245 Palm Bay units as vacant with a current residence elsewhere, meaning the people present were staying two months or less, out of 4,297 vacant units (ACS table B25005, Palm Bay; definition in ACS Subject Definitions, page 49). The other 4,052 Palm Bay vacant units fall in the all other vacant line of the same table. The Census Bureau warns against comparing that current-residence figure with the decennial census.

The margin of error matters as well. The Palm Bay seasonal estimate of 1,863 has a margin of 442, about a quarter of the estimate, while the 2020 Census count of 995 has none. Read together, the two measures place Palm Bay between about 1,000 part-year homes (the 2020 count) and about 2,300 (the top of the ACS range), a small share for a city of about 50,000 housing units.

A Palm Bay house kept as a seasonal or second home does not qualify for the Florida homestead exemption, which requires the owner to make the property a permanent residence on January 1.

Florida Statutes section 196.031 gives the exemption to a person who, on January 1, holds title to Florida real property and in good faith makes it his or her permanent residence, starting with an exemption up to an assessed valuation of $25,000 (Section 196.031, Florida Statutes). The Brevard County Property Appraiser, which handles exemptions for Palm Bay homes, states the same rule in its filing instructions: an owner must own and establish permanent residence on the property on or before January 1 of the year the exemption is sought (Brevard County Property Appraiser, homestead filing instructions).

Palm Bay owners can file in person at the County Service Complex in Palm Bay, 450 Cogan Drive SE, phone 321-952-4574, Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, as well as online or by mail. The instructions list a Florida driver license, Florida vehicle registration and a Brevard County voter registration card, if registered, among the documents for each owner living on the property (BCPAO filing instructions). A Palm Bay home whose owners keep their permanent residence elsewhere does not receive that exemption. Last verified: October 13, 2026, on data.census.gov, the Florida Legislature website and the Brevard County Property Appraiser website.